Season opening shutout

If one play on Friday defined the Rhinelander High School football team’s sentiment following a disappointing end to the 2023 season, it was a pinball-style run by junior Cyrus Leisure facing third and 21.

The junior brought the home crowd to its feet with a tackle-defying 63-yard scamper late in the third quarter and the Hodag defense pitched a shutout in a 20-0 victory over the Ashland Oredockers to open the 2024 campaign at Mike Webster Stadium.

After starting 4-0 last year, only to back into playoffs by winning just one of their final six games, coach Aaron Kraemer said his team was eager to recapture its early season form from a season ago. While there were a few hiccups along the way, overall it was mission accomplished for the squad. 

“After a tough loss in the playoffs, coming back all offseason, these guys were hungry and we got it done,” said Kraemer, who moved to 5-1 in season openers during his tenure at RHS.

Leisure carried the football only three times, but racked up 105 yards in the process. He saw a 40-yard burst go for naught earlier in the third quarter after the Hodags fumbled the ball away on the next play, but got one more chance to hit a home run with his team backed up on third and long. 

Taking the ball off the left wing on a backside counter, Leisure shed two arm tackles near the line of scrimmage, spun off a pair of defenders near midfield, ducked another tackler inside the Ashland 35 and then outran a convoy of Hodag blockers into the end zone to give Rhinelander a three-score lead. 

“If you look at him from his freshman year to now, and even last year’s summer and this year’s summer, he’s one of the guys that’s grown the most,” Kraemer said. “For that type of player to get the reps that he’s getting, to be confident in what he’s doing, both offensively and defensively and have a massive breakout play in game one, that’s a confidence boost. He had a lot of great plays in the Onalaska game late in the year. He had a great JV end of the year. I’m not surprised. I’m just very, very happy for him.”

    Rhinelander’s Caden Sieker (70), Bo Stott (88) and Logan Schwinger (10) combine to tackle Ashland’s Carter Vuorenmaa during the first quarter of a non-conference football game at Mike Webster Stadium Friday, Aug. 23. The Hodag run defense shutout the Oredockers on Friday, holding Ashland to 187 yards of total offense and 3.1 yards per carry. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

On the other side of the ball, a Hodag defense that was gashed for nearly nine yards per carry in a preseason scrimmage a week earlier at Crandon buckled down Friday night. Rhinelander held Ashland to 3.1 yards per carry in the contest as Ashland amassed only 187 total yards in the contest.

“I thought we did what we needed to do,” Kraemer said. “Defensively, I was very, very proud. When I walked into the stadium today, my worry was defense. I’m not worried any more. Our guys played really, really tough.”

Rhinelander set the tone right out of the gate, marching 67 yards on 11 plays on the opening drive, capped off by a five-yard score by Truman Lamers. Similar to Leisure’s big run in the second half, Lamers looked to be bottled up at the 1 but landed on one of his own blockers, kept his balance and reached the ball across the goal line for the opening score. 

It was part of a dominating night on the ground as the Hodags rushed for 256 yards, and averaged 7.1 yards per carry.

“I was really, really pleased that we ran the football as hard as we did,” Kraemer said. “There were some plays where guys could have easily been down. They continued, kept running their feet and kept making plays. We’re blocking downfield. That’s what we were talking about with our tight ends and receivers this week, be the reason we score a touchdown. Not only the hard running, but the finishing downfield is something we absolutely have to continue.”

Rhinelander nearly scored on its second drive, but was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1 when the Ashland defense snuffed out a quarterback sneak attempt by Lamers. The Hodag defense bailed out its offense as Lamers blitzed and jarred the ball free from Wyatt Lund on a third-down pitch play near the goal line. Travis Trickey pounced on the ball at the 2 and the Hodags punched it in two plays later on a run by Logan Schwinger to go up 14-0 with 3:24 remaining in the first half. 

Schwinger added 59 yards on a team-high eight carries for the Hodags — who saw nine players register at least one rush. Lamers finished the night 2 of 7 passing for 19 yards. 

Owen Leask finished with 39 yards on eight carries to lead Ashland while Carter Vuorenmaa had 30 yards on eight carries. Haydin LePlavy was 6 of 15 passing for 82 yards. 

“I was pleased with the way our middle linebackers filled,” Kraemer said. “We tackled the dive well. That running back, Leask, is a big, tough kid. We put him down a couple of times, which was excellent. We rallied to the football on the edges, which was nice.”

Preserving the shutout

    Rhinelander’s Truman Lamers attempts to intercept a pass against Ashland’s Andy Brandis during the fourth quarter of a non-conference football game at Mike Webster Stadium Friday, Aug. 23. Brandis wrestled the ball away from Lamers on the way to the ground, and the pass was ruled as a completion. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Somehow, two plays that still haunt Packers fans were rolled into one wild fourth down scenario late in Friday’s game. Yet the Hodags were able to overcome all of that bad karma and keep Ashland off the scoreboard. 

Facing fourth and 26, LePlavy chucked a ball deep inside the 10 that Lamers appeared to intercept, only to have it wrestled away by Ashland’s Andy Brandis as the two went to the ground. Just like the Packers’ infamous Fail Mary play in Seattle, the play was eventually ruled a catch for the offense. That set up first and goal from the 6, but following a false start penalty, the Oredockers were unable to make any further progress and were turned away on downs after Vuorenmaa was unable to come up with a deflected ball in the end zone with 49 seconds remaining. 

“I thought we had an interception and then we’re still on defense,” Kraemer said. “We easily could have folded and allowed them in. We would have had to have a hands team play and it would have been a lot more interesting than it really was, but it was great to buckle down. We got some plays when we absolutely needed them.”

Room for improvement

Though the Hodags controlled the game on the offensive side of the ball, Kraemer said there was plenty of room to grow. Aside from getting turned away on fourth-and-goal, the Hodags had another drive go awry in the third quarter when Lamers was stripped on a quarterback keeper and then went 3-and-out early in the fourth quarter in a drive that stalled out after a holding penalty. 

Rhinelander was penalized five times for 43 yards in the contest and fumbled three times, losing only one.

“Offensively, there’s a lot to clean up. At the end of the game, Truman takes a knee, he comes out and gives me a hug and says, ‘there’s a lot of stuff we need to clean up.’ If he’s saying that, I truly believe that,” Kraemer said. 

Trainer’s room

Already thin at tailback and inside linebacker, the Hodags received another blow at those positions when junior Myles Eagleson left the game in the third quarter with an apparent shoulder injury and did not return to the contest. 

Eagleson returned to the lineup Friday after missing the scrimmage under concussion protocol. Tyler Chariton, who was slated to platoon with Eagleson at both positions, missed a second straight week with an ankle injury.

Eagleson had 34 yards on seven carries and recorded a sack on defense prior to the injury.

After the game, Kraemer indicated that further evaluation would be needed to determine how much, if any, time Eagleson will miss.

“If he is out, we’ll get through it together. If not, we’ll try to make sure he’s prepared to play against Hayward,” he said. “He’s definitely a dude that we need. If he is out for an extended amount of time, it stinks, but we’ve got guys who can come back and fill that role and he’s going to be a great teammate through it. We’re going to cross our fingers for him because he’s a great player and great kid.”

The injuries to Chariton and Eagleson also forced Rhinelander go to its third string option — Lamers — in the kicking game. He handled the kickoff after Leisure’s touchdown and had a punt for 14 yards in the fourth quarter. Rhinelander did not attempt an extra point in the contest, electing to go for two after each touchdown. The Hodags finished 1 for 3 on conversion attempts.  

Up next 

Rhinelander (1-0, 0-0 Great Northern) faces another former GNC foe on the road Friday night as it travels to Hayward to take on the Hurricanes. Hayward fell to Lakeland 24-3 in Minocqua on Friday.

“Offensively, we’re going to get a tough-nosed team that moves, a tough-nosed team that is well-coached and gets to the football,” Kraemer said. “They hit hard. They play nasty — not to say dirty, but nasty. They’re a tough-nosed team. It will be an interesting challenge, but it should set us up for the following week when we play Lakeland, because they’re going to be tough too.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].